Sunday, 6 March 2016

Major corrections

If you have followed my building of the front stairs you may have noticed that the right front has been open on all pictures. The reason is it won't close, and I know why.

As I wrote in a post, when you have completed a PhD you can be passed without corrections (which almost never happens), or with minor corrections that won't take more than a couple of months and frequently just a couple of days. Or you can get major corrections which means that you have really messed it up, but your examiners believe that if you work hard enough you can still get it right.

"The time has come" to do some major corrections so that the right front closes properly. The reason it doesn't close properly is that almost a year ago, when I glued the shell, I was lazy, sloppy - and quite desperate. I dismissed a couple of millimeters of horizontal panels. This was because after hours of sanding I had managed to almost fit in the panels, and at the moment a couple of millimeters didn't seem significant. I did test to hinge the fronts and close them, and it worked. I have pictures to prove it. Actually, as I look at those pictures the fronts do not close properly, but there were so many other details that weren't finished that it didn't bother me. More important, even if I had wished to take out the panels, I wouldn't have been able to do so. In hindsight, I should have asked for assistance.

When P and I made the lights, we noticed that some floors/ceilings were skewed, and we aligned the angle bars with the side walls, with the understanding that some time in the future the horizontal panels would have to be fixed. The future is here.

I won't bore you with details, but the amount of work I have put into this ungrateful task has made me consider investing in a set of more powerful tools, such as a dremel. It would have made it much easier and maybe even pleasurable. As it is, I used what I had, and I am not quite pleased with the result, but the front can be closed now.

While I was at it, I covered some holes and seams with filler and painted edges. As I progress, I notice that some edges that I once very carefully painted gray must be repainted white, and the other way round. I have even discovered two completely unpainted edges that I haven't seen before.

None of these tiny details will be perfect, and the question is whether anyone will ever notice and whether I should be upset.

The closer I come to completion - if there ever is such a thing with a dollhouse - the less satisfied I am with untidiness, however small; with tiny flaws, regardless of whether they are my fault (mostly they are); with things too late to change.